/UPDATE*/POLITICS: U.S., Russia Nuclear Reductions START Again

When U.S. President Barack Obama accepted his Nobel Peace Prize last fall he said, "I'm working with [Russian] President [Dmitri] Medvedev to reduce America and Russia's nuclear stockpiles." Three and a half months later, that work has come to fruition.

WESTERN SAHARA: “Sahrawi People Must Decide”

The only solution for the conflict over Morocco's occupation of the Western Sahara is to do what the Sahrawi people decide regarding their future, Zahra Ramdan, president of the Association of Sahrawi Women in Spain, told IPS.

MEDIA: Journalists Increasingly at Risk Says UN Report

A record 77 journalists were killed last year, making 2009 one of the most dangerous years for media workers, according to a report published Thursday by UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency.

Q&A: EPAs Are Still Not Developmental, Despite EU Promises

The contentious trade deals known as the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) will in their current form not do African countries any good as they still do not take those countries’ development needs into consideration, despite such an undertaking by the European Union (EU).

HAITI: Artists Join UN to Rebuild Cultural Life

As international donors prepare to meet at the United Nations headquarters in New York to discuss ways to rebuild Haiti, after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake, the country’s artistic community has been mobilising to make culture a key aspect of reconstruction.

AFRICA: Illegal Fishing in Guinea’s Waters “Worst in the World”

Rampant illegal fishing is hitting some of the poorest West African countries the hardest as this practice is globally most rife in the east central Atlantic Ocean area, which covers the territorial waters of some 15 African countries from Morocco and Mauritania in the north to Angola in the south.

BELARUS: Crackdown on Dissent Feared Ahead of Elections

Civil rights leaders in Belarus are facing a campaign of persecution and harassment as autocratic President Aleksandr Lukashenko looks to crack down on the opposition ahead of local and presidential elections over the next year, rights activists warn.

MIDEAST: EU Boosts Israel Ties, Ignores Illegal Settlements

Diplomats representing the European Union (EU) have drawn up a new plan for strengthening their relations with Israel despite the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

EAST AFRICA: Impatient EU Pushes for Progress on EPA Trade Deal

The European Commission (EC) is increasing the pressure on the East African Community (EAC) to sign the free trade deal known as an economic partnership agreement with the EU.

ECONOMY: Greek Crisis Impacts the Balkans

Serious concerns are being raised about the impact of the ongoing recession in Greece on the political and economic situation in the neighbouring Balkans.

DEVELOPMENT: ‘Aid Industry is Part of the Problem’

Aid organisations perpetuate humanitarian disasters. That is one of the conclusions made by war correspondent Linda Polman in her latest book as she describes the world of humanitarian aid.

Q&A: Tapping Women’s Enterprise to Topple Rural Poverty

Employees at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) may have cause to fear for their jobs after Yukiko Omura was appointed vice president of the United Nations' rural poverty agency in February.

RIGHTS: EU Selling Torture Equipment

Equipment designed for torturing prisoners is still being exported from European Union (EU) countries despite a four-year-old ban on such trade, according to a new report by Amnesty International.

DISARMAMENT: Japan Pushes for Progress in U.S. Nuclear Review

Japanese parliamentarians and activists pin high hopes on the hotly debated and much anticipated U.S. Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) to which the Barack Obama administration is reported to be giving finishing touches.

ENVIRONMENT: So That Vans May Pollute More

Three years after vehicle-makers succeeded in weakening new European Union (EU) pollution standards for cars, many of the same firms are hoping to frustrate efforts to make vans more fuel-efficient.

BALKANS: Farming Prospers as Farmers Suffer

Official statistics put Serbian agriculture as the single most productive branch of the economy and one that not only survived the financial meltdown but chalked up a record trade surplus of almost a billion US dollars in 2009.

ICELAND: They Also Serve Who Wait For a Prison Seat

After a nail-biting wait of more than a year Jon Palsson (not real name) is happy to have secured a place in the city jail and get an early enough chance to serve out a four-month sentence for drunk driving.

CUBA: Human Rights at the Eye of the Storm

Cuba stepped up its state-controlled media offensive Monday in response to what the government calls a well-orchestrated international campaign of misinformation carried out in the last few weeks against this socialist island nation.

HEALTH-UGANDA: EU Supports Law Threatening Access to Medicines

The European Union (EU) is funding the drafting of Uganda’s controversial Counterfeit Goods Bill, a proposed law that has caused an outcry as it threatens access to life-saving generic medicines in this low income East African country. Some 90 percent of medicines used in Uganda’s health-care system are imported, of which about 93 percent are generics.

CULTURE: Poor Patronage Killing Arab Cinema

Arab cinema, which had a promising presence at international film festivals during the 1990s, may now be going through a declining phase for lack of patronage.

Q&A: ‘Israeli Siege Causing De-development of Gaza’

For the first time since September 2006, Mahmoud Abu Rahma, a leading figure in the Palestinian human rights group Al Mezan, has been granted permission to travel outside Gaza.